Why For is “Captain EO” really returning to Disneyland Park?

Jim Hill

15 years ago

First up, RedRyderBB writes in to say:

Disneyland can’t be serious about bringing back “Captain EO.” I saw that 3D movie when it first opened in 1987 and once was really enough. “EO” was just a glorified music video. And even MTV doesn’t show music videos anymore. So what’s the point of bringing “Captain EO” back now?

RedRyderBB –

To be honest, this isn’t an exercise in nostalgia. Nor is The Walt Disney Company looking to belatedly cash in the King of Pop’s passing. No, the real reason that “Captain EO” is returning to Disneyland for a “special limited engagement” has to do with capacity.

I mean, do the math. Later this year, “Star Tours” will be shutting down so that the Imagineers can then retool & redress this Tomorrowland attraction in preparation for “Star Tours II” opening in the Spring of 2011. And since the 1600-Guests-per-hour that could theoretically be riding those 4 simulators have to go somewhere … Well, the way that Disneyland can absorb all of those extra people walking around Tomorrowland is by sending them over to the 575-seat “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” theater. Which can (if its Cast Members are working at peak efficiency) then squeeze in three shows of “Captain EO” per hour.

Just be aware that — as soon as “Star Tours II” comes on line in 2011 — “Captain EO” will be taking his rag-tag band off to some other Universe of Good & Evil. So that the Imagineers can then finally get around to installing the attraction that they really want to replace “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience” with. Which is a West Coast version of the Magic Kingdom’s Living Character Initiative show, the “Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.”

Next up, Art W. sent me an e-mail which asks:

Jim-

Can you please shed some light on this in hopes of getting it out to the masses more- we need this in Anaheim!!!

If you click on the above link, you’ll be taken to a website that’s collecting signatures for a “Lost” themed attraction. Here’s the pitch for this online petition (with all its original typos intact):

To Televsion and Disnet Fans

LOST is one of the best television series to ever be broadcast on television. Disney should give this awesome show it’s due and create a LOST Island attraction at one of it’s Disney theme parks. Just think of the locations that can be immortalized in a Disney location.

The Frozen Donkey Wheel behind the Orchid Station testing chamber

The Swan station and Hatch ride

A submarine ride to Palu Ferry

Dharmaville Barracks

Smoke monster

Ruins

Jacob’s Cabin

The Egyptian Statue and Jacob’s Lair

Give us Die Hard LOST fans our Theme park ride!

The reason that this particular online petition has been getting so much play this week is that “Lost” executive producers / writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have indicated – via their individual Twitter feeds – that they themselves think that this is a marvelous idea. Which is why they then signed this online document.

So will this actually happen? Will the Imagineers someday build a “Lost” –themed attraction? To date, the closest that Disney Parks & Resorts has come to putting an idea like this in motion was a private party that was held for ABC affiliates at the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort back in 2005. If I’m remembering correctly, the sandy beach area along Bay Lake was strewn with luggage & debris that was supposed to have come from Oceanic Flight 815. And as partygoers dined on slices of wild boar and drank cocktails that were made with those teeny-tiny liquor bottles that you only find on airplanes, the sound of trees being knocked down over and the roar of the smoke monster could be heard echoing out of the darkened
woods nearby.

This sounds like a fun one-time-event, don’t you think? The only problem is – if I’m remembering correctly – ABC spent upwards of $100,000 on this single shindig (With most of that money obviously being used to pay people to haul in fake plane wreckage that could then be used to dress Bay Lake Beach). But given how popular & successful this particular corporate party
was, there was supposedly some talk of making a “Lost” –themed evening of entertainment available to large convention groups who were staying on property at the Contemporary, the Grand Flo, the Coronado, the Yacht & Beach and/or the Dolphin & the Swan.

“So Why For didn’t Disney Parks & Resorts go forward with this idea?,” you ask. As I understand it, this concept fell by the wayside due to licensing issues. As in: No one could figure out which arm of The Walt Disney Company was supposed to pay another division of this same Corporation so that they’d then have the rights to regularly stage “Lost” –themed events for WDW conventioneers. Maybe after the last episode of this ABC series airs in May of this year, the folks at Disney Parks & Resorts can then revisit this idea. Get all of the licensing issues sorted out. But – again – given all of the costs
involved here (i.e. set dressing, comping all of the Guests staying at the Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort who complain when they’re not allowed to use Bay Lake’s waterfront area for a day or two), I’m honestly not sure how financially feasible this idea actually is.

But just like Carlton, given that I’ve been watching “Lost” since this Emmy Award-winning show first went on the air in September of 2004, I’d dearly love it if WDI was finally able to build some sort of ride, show or attraction that was based on this ABC series at one of the Parks. So here’s hoping that this does happen someday.

And finally, Broadway Buyer writes in to say:

I’m assuming that you saw that Disney announced that they are in fact going to build a Store in Times Square. Just where you said they were, too. So are you going to pull a Nikki Finke and post a “TOLDJA!” story on your website?

Photo by Jim Hill

Broadway Buyer –

Actually, no. I mean, okay. So the Disney Store is going in right where I said it would back in October of 2008. Which is the old Virgin megastore. Which is located at 1540 Broadway.

But – to be fair – in the months since I wrote that particular JHM article, officials from The Walt Disney Company also looked at 1515 Broadway (which is where the MTV Studios that
faced onto Times Square used to be located) and 1604 Broadway (formerly home of the Spotlight Live theater). And given that Mouse House execs were seriously considering both of these potential retail spaces as recently as three months ago … If the Vornado Realty Trust hadn’t offered Disney extremely attractive terms in regards to rent, it’s just as likely that Mickey would have gone with 1515 Broadway. Especially since ABC’s Times Square Studio is directly across
the street from the old MTV Studios. Which meant that this new Disney Store would have gotten tens of millions of dollars in free publicity annually from what you could have seen of the place during broadcasts of “Good Morning America” and “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

Photo by Jim Hill

But given that’s not how things worked, I guess that I can be magnanimous in victory and then – in private – breathe a sigh of relief that the Mouse actually did go with the Times Square location that I predicted back in October of ’08.

Anyway … That’s the first Why For of 2010. The first of many of these columns for this year, I hope. But it all depends on you folks. So if you’d like answers to your Disney-related questions, please send them along to jim@jimhillmedia.com.

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend, okay?